Project Ara

Motorola has announced a free, open hardware platform for smartphones called "Project Ara". The Goal is to emulate what Android platform has done for software: create a vibrant third party developer ecosystem, increase the pace of innovation and lower the development timelines substantially. 

When Google bought Motorola a year ago, one wondered what the search giant will do with a hardware firm. Little did we knew back then that they'd come up with an idea/product so early that could well be a revolution in the smartphone industry. Here's what Ara is according to Motorola:

"The design for project Ara consists of what we call an endoskeleton(endo) and modules. The endo is the structural frame that holds the modules in place. A module can be anything from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter- or something not yet thought of!"

This would mean that users will be able to customize the hardware components of the device in whichever way they like.

For the project, Motorola is teaming up with Phonebooks, a company with similar idea to make this reality. Motorola will soon start signing up for "Ara Scouts"; developers and interested members of community who can give inputs in shaping up the project. 

The hardware innovations in the Software market has been very few for quite some time now. It goes without saying that if Motorola is able to make this work, the hardware firm would be back in the reckoning.